Near the end of my semester there [at Liberty University], my friend David Leipziger ’09 (who, as a gay Jewish liberal, would finish second only to my ex-roommate in a contest of stereotypical Brown students) decided, out of perverse curiosity, to come visit me. He stayed for an entire weekend, and the most amazing thing happened: he got along with everyone.
That’s what the Tri-Faith Initiative has been about – chasing an implausible dream of setting an example to the world by creating a shared religious campus for Jews, Muslims and Christians in Omaha, while building relationships between different faiths, one meal, one person, one prayer at a time.
Here is our weekly collection plate, offering a few of the good things that Episcopalians and their congregations have done that made the news this past week. And other news fit to print.
The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church’s only Asian bishop, intends to use his expertise as an Islamic scholar to work in Pakistan where he was born and in the Middle East to build bridges between Christians and Muslims. A conservative evangelical, he will step down in September after nearly 15 years in the diocese.
“When any influential person, be it a religious or political figure, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record,” it said.
It is not a problem to understand that all of our struggles and achievements as a Church draw us near to the Gospel. The problem lies when we question why the “uncool fundamentalists” (among others) claim to sit at Christ’s table. I have to admit that, not rarely, I have acted as the pharisees who criticize Jesus for having a meal with tax collectors.
The earliest step in penitence is to give head to good desires. They are the voice of our capacity crying out for fulfilment. Desires should crystallize into resolution. The human will is of great power to set the life free from bondage. We do not honour God’s power by depreciating the ability of the human will to do strong deeds.